Photo: P199 · CC BY-SA 3.0Crime per resident in Rideau Lakes runs lower than in 79% of Canadian towns
About 44% of crime here is cleared by police, set against 33% for the typical Canadian town its size. Add to that, its Safety Grade is A−, on crime the police covering Rideau Lakes reported from 2023 to 2025: #217 of 862 in Ontario. Police counts work out at 7.8 violent incidents and 13.1 incidents of property crime per 1,000 residents annually; in the typical town its size they are 12.0 and 30.5. Split in two, the index gives 80 for violence and 30.6 for everything else (normally 89.4 and 56).
Statistics Canada, police-reported crime, 2023–2025 means. The index weighs each crime by its seriousness; rates are incidents per 1,000 residents a year.
What stands out about safety in Rideau Lakes
Visitors count, residents divide
About 31% of Rideau Lakes’s homes are cottages, second homes or otherwise empty much of the year: crime in the busy months is divided by year-round residents only, which lifts every rate here. How to read it ↓
Violence weighs more than the rest
Rideau Lakes scores 80 for violence and 30.6 for other crime; the typical Canadian town its size scores 89.4 and 56. By type ↓
Lighter than Ontario’s middle
Rideau Lakes’s index of 44.4 compares with 56.2 for the typical town in Ontario. Towns its size ↓
Rising since 2023
In 2023 the index in Rideau Lakes stood at 40.8, by 2025 at 53.2. Over the same years the typical Canadian town its size went from 69.5 to 60. Year by year ↓
Written from Statistics Canada’s police-reported crime by police service and detachment, 2023–2025. Figures are what police recorded, not convictions.
What’s behind Rideau Lakes’s grade
The grade weighs the Crime Severity Index and its violent half, averaged over 2023–2025, against every Canadian town and city neighbourhood of 1,000 people or more.
Its place: #217 of 862 in Ontario and #379 of 2,572 Canadian towns.
The Crime Severity Index and its two halves, beside the typical figure for Canadian towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people.
Year by year in Rideau Lakes: up 30%, 2023 to 2025
Crime Severity Index
Its most recent year, 2025, was also its heaviest (53.2); the lightest was 2024 (39.2). The comparison line, the typical Canadian town its size, runs from 69.5 in 2023 to 60 by 2025.
Every year as a table
| Year | Rideau Lakes | Typical town its size |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 53.2 | 60 |
| 2024 | 39.2 | 67.9 |
| 2023 | 40.8 | 69.5 |
Statistics Canada, Crime Severity Index by police service, each year as published. Typical: the median of Canadian towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people.
The Crime Severity Index of the police covering Rideau Lakes, each year, against the typical Canadian town its size.
Crime in Rideau Lakes, type by type
Against the typical town its size, Rideau Lakes runs highest on sexual assault (1 per 1,000 against 0.8). Motor vehicle theft and theft under $5,000 sit below it.
Every Statistics Canada violation line
| Violation | Incidents a year | Per 1,000 | Cleared |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homicide | 0.7 | 0.06 | — |
| Sexual violations against children | 3 | 0.2 | — |
| Assaults against a peace officer | 0 | 0 | — |
| Firearms: use, discharge, pointing | 0 | 0 | — |
| Robbery | 0.7 | 0.06 | — |
| Forcible confinement or kidnapping | 0.3 | 0.03 | — |
| Other violent violations | 1.3 | 0.1 | — |
| Breaking and entering | 18 | 1.5 | 29% |
| Possession of stolen property | 2.3 | 0.2 | — |
| Theft of a motor vehicle | 10.3 | 0.9 | 13% |
| Theft over $5,000 | 8.7 | 0.7 | 3% |
| Theft under $5,000 | 37 | 3.1 | 7% |
| Mischief | 28 | 2.3 | 21% |
| Weapons violations | 3.3 | 0.3 | — |
| Administration of justice violations | 18.3 | 1.5 | 64% |
| Other Criminal Code violations | 3.3 | 0.3 | — |
| Drug violations | 2.3 | 0.2 | — |
| Impaired driving | 9.3 | 0.8 | 100% |
| Failing to stop or remain | 1 | 0.08 | — |
Statistics Canada’s violation groups for the whole police service or detachment, incidents a year its own. Cleared: incidents solved by a charge or otherwise, as a share of those reported.
Incidents per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025 means, against the typical figure for Canadian towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people.
Around 94 violent incidents a year on Rideau Lakes’s police records (2023–2025)
Violent incidents per 1,000 a year, 2023–2025
Property crimes per 1,000 a year, 2023–2025
Statistics Canada counts actual incidents; those police record as unfounded are listed apart and kept out of its crime rates and severity index. Each incident is filed under its most serious violation, which the survey sets partly by the maximum penalty.
Property crime adds about 160 a year and other violations 48 (2023–2025 average). Of 1,000 dots, one per resident, the coloured ones are a year’s incidents at these rates.
Among 40 towns its size, Rideau Lakes places 21st
| # | Town | People | Severity index | Violent index | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Rothesay New Brunswick | 12,626 | 20 | 27.9 | A+ |
| 2 | Hamilton Ontario | 11,810 | 25.7 | 30.4 | A+ |
| 3 | Georgian Bluffs Ontario | 12,061 | 29.2 | 35.4 | A+ |
| … | |||||
| 5 | Norwich Ontario | 12,321 | 31.5 | 27.6 | A |
| … | |||||
| 7 | Adjala-Tosorontio Ontario | 11,948 | 33.2 | 50.9 | A |
| … | |||||
| 18 | Martensville Saskatchewan | 11,808 | 39.9 | 46.5 | A |
| 19 | Dundalk Ontario | 11,599 | 40.6 | 49.1 | A− |
| 20 | Meaford Ontario | 12,652 | 42.7 | 45.3 | A− |
| 21 | Rideau Lakes Ontario | 12,148 | 44.4 | 80 | A− |
| 22 | Saint-Raymond Quebec | 11,951 | 44.5 | 72 | A− |
| 23 | Sainte-Agathe-des-Monts Quebec | 12,154 | 48.8 | 71.8 | B+ |
| 24 | Mont-Tremblant Quebec | 11,879 | 48.8 | 71.8 | B+ |
| … | |||||
| 40 | Clearwater County Alberta | 11,856 | 188.3 | 342.3 | D |
The 40 Canadian towns of 2,500+ people closest in population; city neighbourhoods, city totals and reserves are left out. Towns on one police service or detachment share its index.
The Canadian towns closest to Rideau Lakes in population, the lowest Crime Severity Index first (2023–2025 means).
Crime in the places around Rideau Lakes
| Town | People | Severity index | Violent index | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rideau Lakes | 12,148 | 44.4 | 80 | A− |
| Athens (18 km) | 3,078 | 49.6 | 50.6 | B+ |
| Perth (24 km) | 6,972 | 72.7 | 120.3 | C+ |
| Tay Valley (25 km) | 6,171 | 37.7 | 46.6 | A |
| Smiths Falls (25 km) | 11,093 | 105.1 | 147.6 | C− |
| Elizabethtown-Kitley (27 km) | 9,886 | 49.6 | 50.6 | B+ |
1 of the 5 neighbours with their own figures score lower than Rideau Lakes. The nearest of them, Tay Valley (24.9 km away), scores 37.7 against 44.4.
Each place’s police figures, 2023–2025 means. The nearest places to Rideau Lakes with figures are 18–27 km away.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Cleared, not convicted. A crime is cleared when police lay or recommend a charge, or solve it another way; the weighted rate counts serious crimes for more.
- What the index measures. Each incident counts by its seriousness, judged from court sentences, and the total is set per resident. As Statistics Canada puts it, “The CSI is not an indicator of overall safety and should be interpreted in the broader community context.”
- 100 is Canada in 2006. The index is scaled so that Canada as a whole scored 100 in its base year, 2006: a town at 50 has half that severity per resident.
Questions about safety in Rideau Lakes
Is Rideau Lakes safe?
Averaged over 2023–2025, the Crime Severity Index for Rideau Lakes comes to 44.4. Per 1,000 residents a year, police logged 7.8 violent incidents and 13.1 property crimes. Across Canadian towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people, the median is 66.
What is the most common crime in Rideau Lakes?
Fraud is the most common, at 4.4 per 1,000 residents a year, then assault (3.9) and theft under $5,000 (3.1).
Is crime going up in Rideau Lakes?
It has: 40.8 in 2023 became 53.2 by 2025, a rise of 30%.
How much of Rideau Lakes’s crime do police solve?
Weighted by seriousness, police cleared 44% of crime (69% of violent crime, 21% of the rest). The typical Canadian town its size clears 33%.
Whose figures are these?
They are Rideau Lakes’s own: its police cover the town and no other.
Source: Statistics Canada, police-reported crime by police service and detachment, 2023–2025 (Statistics Canada Open Licence); TownRatings calculation.
Sources: Statistics Canada, Crime severity index and weighted clearance rates, police services (tables 35-10-0186 to 0190, 0061, 0063, 0064), 2023–2025 · Statistics Canada, Incident-based crime statistics by detailed violations, police services (35-10-0178 to 0185) · Safety Grade: TownRatings calculation. Under the Statistics Canada Open Licence.
Adapted from Statistics Canada (Census of Population 2021, population estimates 2025, 2021 census boundaries) under the Statistics Canada Open Licence; this does not constitute an endorsement by Statistics Canada. Neighbourhood names in some cities © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL).